Rodon, White Sox stay hot, roll past Twins 7-3

MN State Sports

Aug 23, 2018

CHICAGO (AP) — Adam Engel broke a tie with a two-run homer in a five-run fifth, Carlos Rodon continued his torrid stretch with six strong innings and the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 7-3 on Wednesday.
Nicky Delmonico and Tim Anderson also homered off Twins starter Kyle Gibson (7-10), helping send him to only his second loss in seven career decisions at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Chicago won for the sixth time in eight games.
The White Sox sent 11 batters to the plate against Gibson and Gabriel Moya in the fifth to snap a 2-2 tie.
Omar Narvaez drew a walk before Engel hit an 0-2 fastball over the left-field fence. Yolmer Sanchez followed with a walk and advanced to second on Avisail Garcia’s one-out single. Sanchez scored when second baseman Logan Forsythe couldn’t handle Daniel Palka’s hard grounder that was ruled an error. Delmonico was walked intentionally, and Matt Davidson hit a two-run single that knocked Gibson out of the game. The right-hander gave up seven runs (four earned) on seven hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings.
Rodon (5-3) allowed four of the first five batters to reach base before he settled down. He allowed three hits and three walks and improved to 5-1 with a 2.31 ERA over his last 10 starts.
Xavier Cedeno, Juan Minaya and Hector Santiago combined for three innings of one-run relief.
Forsythe led off the game with a walk and, one out later, Jorge Polanco hit a homer into the left-field bleachers, the first off Rodon in 26 innings. He didn’t allow another hit until Forsythe’s infield single with one out in the fifth.
Chicago pulled even on solo homers by Delmonico in the second and Anderson in the fourth. The homer was Delmonico’s fourth in the last six games, while Anderson’s 17th matched his career high of a year ago.
Forsythe’s single off Minaya in the seventh, his third of the game, scored the final run.
SOX TRADE AVILAN
The White Sox acquired RHP Felix Paulino from Philadelphia for LHP Luis Avilan, whose 58 relief appearances led the staff. Avilan had a 2-1 record and 3.86 ERA. Paulino went 4-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 31 games between Single-A Clearwater and Double-A Reading. RHP Ryan Burr and INF Jose Rondon were brought up from Triple-A Charlotte.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: Manager Paul Molitor wouldn’t rule out a rotation spot for RHP Michael Pineda (Tommy John surgery) if he had no setbacks in his final two rehab starts with Triple-A Rochester.
White Sox: INF Jose Abreu (lower abdominal surgery) was placed on the 10-day DL. The team leader in home runs (22) and RBI (78) could resume baseball-related drills in two weeks. … Bench coach Joe McEwing again filled in for Manager Rick Renteria, who underwent more tests for the lightheadedness that he experienced on Monday in Minnesota.
UP NEXT
Twins: RHP Kohl Stewart (0-1, 7.71) will make his third big league start Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series against Oakland in Minnesota.
White Sox: In what could be the final game of his White Sox career, RHP James Shields (5-14, 4.39) will start a four-game set at Detroit on Thursday afternoon. His name has been mentioned prominently in regard to the Aug. 31 waivers trade deadline.